


neu anfangen

by artemris



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Gen, Slice of Life, no beta readers we die like men, really just an excuse for some robert & liv bonding, this is the 2nd fic i've written abt people not wanting to do their homework, what does that say about me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-13
Updated: 2017-01-13
Packaged: 2018-09-17 04:40:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9304688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artemris/pseuds/artemris
Summary: Pigs fly, hell freezes over and Liv actually does her homework on time.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [transkylo (captainandor)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainandor/gifts).



> i haven't uploaded anything in over a year and here i am uploading an emmerdale fic. this isn't how i pictured adulthood would be. anyway this is more an effort of me shirking my responsibilities onto fictional characters instead of actually doing them... whoops. at least you get some liv and robert bonding out of it now ain't that a treat
> 
> i could be fake deep about the title since it means start anew in german but tbh it's just a revolverheld song

Liv and Aaron are already sitting at the table when Robert walks in. Liv's school books are spread out in front of her, taking up most of the surface as she squints over a textbook positioned neatly on top of the mess of papers beneath. Robert's honestly surprised to see that she's even remembered she has a schoolbag, let alone taking out her books to study, but one look at Aaron's face tells him it isn't going well so far.

"So what's this s'posed to mean then?" she asks, stabbing at the book with her index finger, with a perfect blend between teenage exasperation and genuine malice at whoever assigned it.

Aaron shifts round a bit to peer at the word that Liv has her finger over and Robert watches as Aaron's expression quickly morphs into a frown the second she moves her finger away from the words.

He barely manages to suppress the curse that tries to make its way to his lips. "What the - Liv, this isn't even _English_."

Liv doesn't make as much of an effort to hide her language. "Yeah, no shit," she says, giving a toothy grin at how quickly her brother's expression changes.

To be perfectly fair to her, there isn't much Aaron could say without sounding like the biggest hypocrite in the village - and there are a lot of contenders to that title - so Robert takes it upon himself to step in. He's never been very good at the whole authority figure thing and he's pretty certain that he's actually considered even worse at being a father figure, but he's been working on it.

"Language," he says as sternly as he can muster without laughing and both siblings' heads snap round to face him. Despite living most of their lives apart, the two really are more alike than they realise.

Liv regards him for a moment with a look akin to disbelief before scoffing and turning back to her books without so much as a response. Robert's eyes flicker to Aaron who can only offer a shrug and a resigned expression that says 'what can you do?'.

The girl's patience seems to be growing thin, he notes as he looks back to her, because she's given up on trying to understand the text and is doodling in the margins of the textbook instead. Robert's pretty sure he's seen caricatures of himself in her exercise books before actually. Half of him feels like he should be the responsible adult and tell her to stop defacing school property but the other half is curious to see what she'll come up with this time.

"Right," he says, clapping his hands together like a proper enthusiastic parent. He's starting to feel a bit like Chas, which is awkward on so many levels, but he takes it as a sign that he's getting better at this. "Let's see it then."

He gets a quizzical look from Liv at that, which is probably to be expected. He could probably count the times he's offered to help her with homework on one hand. One finger probably. "Come on then, before I change my mind."

She watches him for a few more seconds before shrugging and shoving the book across the table so he can see it.

Robert pulls it closer to him and gives a small huff of laughter when he sees the subject content that apparently hasn't changed since he did his own GCSEs. He has to admit he feels kind of old when he thinks about how long ago that was. Then again at least he did GCSEs and not O Levels; he doubts most of the village can say the same.

He doesn't say any of these things, however. Instead he takes a seat beside Liv, squints at the book in front of her and says, "States," as if that somehow makes sense.

"You wha'?" Liv says, a picture of eloquence, and he remembers what he's doing.

He points a finger at the page, hovering just above the word she'd been questioning.

"It's, uh, states. It's German." He tries not to look up at Aaron because if he knows Aaron at all he knows there's bound to be a smirk on his face and a comment on his tongue about how much of a fucking swot Robert is. He fails and looks up anyway to find that at least half of his predictions are true.

Liv squints at him for a moment like she's considering saying something and then - "How d'you know German?"

"Maybe spent a couple of weekends there," he says with a grin. It fades when he catches sight of Liv's face: confused, but hesitant, like she's about to call bullshit on him except maybe some people do actually go for weekends abroad and not just to, like, Wales if they're lucky. "Or," he begins, trying to salvage it, "Maybe I was just a bit of a teacher's pet in school."

He ignores Aaron's scoff at that in favour of observing Liv who looks just about convinced. Parenting is hard at the best of times, Robert realises, but parenting a child with a such a turbulent history, who's no relation to him whatsoever, is definitely approaching what he'd call impossible. Mostly he just tries to put his foot in it as little as possible, which is harder than it sounds.

"Don't know why they can't just teach us in English," she mutters. "Least then I'd be able to understand _some_ of it."

Robert stares at her for a moment as though he can't quite comprehend what she just said. "You do realise you're studying Germany, right?"

She just shrugs and goes back to doodling on the book. Now that he's sitting beside her Robert can see some of her masterpieces properly. A few of them are entirely her own but he also notices a few additions to some of the printed photographs.

"Right, come on, pay attention or I'll not bother helping you at all," he prods. It could just be his hearing, but he could be sure he hears her mutter 'tragic' under her breath.

As he pulls the textbook back from her again and away from her wandering pen, there's a shifting at the table and Aaron stands up with a look of mild disappointment on his face. "'S much as I'd love to stay and watch, I told Adam I'd meet him at the yard." He shrugs on a jacket before reaching over to plant a kiss atop his sister's head. "Be good while I'm gone, yeah?"

She smiles angelically. "When aren't I?"

\---

The first thing Aaron hears when he returns is Robert's voice, drifting in from the kitchen. He sounds like a schoolteacher but he'd be lying if he said it wasn't endearing to hear the two most important people in his life getting along. He makes a mental note not to say that in front of his mum as he walks in.

"I don't know why they have to start every chapter with a pun," he hears Liv complain when he gets closer. "Seriously, these jokes are worse than yours."

Not wanting to eavesdrop - and really, there's not much reason to - Aaron opens the door and heads into the room, just in time to see Robert knock his shoulder into his little sister's playfully with an only halfhearted 'oi'.

"Alright," Aaron says, standing over her with one hand on his hip and what he hopes is his best imitation of a parental manner. "Gig's up. What've you done with Liv?"

She rolls her eyes at him, forgoing the greetings as he does, and goes back to whatever she was reading before he entered. She even manages to look somewhat interested in whatever it is, which only serves to give a point to his question.

When it's clear she isn't going to bother with an answer, he tries again. " _Okay_ , suddenly I'm less interesting than school - not suspicious at all. _And_ you two are actually getting on, which, again, not weird at all." He folds his arms over his chest and moves to stand behind her so he can take a look at the book himself. He catches a glimpse of a few words but they make no sense to him without the context - even in context he wouldn't necessarily follow. "What you readin', then?"

Liv sighs theatrically as though it's the hundredth time she's been disturbed today and gives him a look of disdain that, despite living with a teenage girl, he never seems to be ready for. "I have a history project for school and I need a good mark on it for my report or Chas'll go mental about all them days I skipped - was sick." She looks back down at the page. "'S on ancient history," she adds.

"Ancient history? Liv, it's only the 1980s," Robert says, the disbelief evident in his tone.

She turns to him with a grin that Aaron knows too well and he realises half a second before she says it what she's going to say. "When were you born again?" Aaron stifles a laugh and Robert's mouth falls open in protest, but before either of them can say anything she shrugs and turns away again. "See. Ancient."

As Aaron takes a seat at the table she snaps her book shut with an impressive thud. "Think I'm done anyway. Call me down when tea's ready, will ya?"

And then she's gone like a whirlwind, leaving her books strewn across the table to feed into the chaos she's already made of the rest of the place. Aaron turns to give Robert a bewildered look and receives only an amused quirk of the lips in response.

"Teenagers," is all Robert says, as though it's all that needs to be said.

Maybe it is.

\---

Aaron's not overly surprised to find that Liv was telling the truth about the project - she's cunning that one. A bit like him really; smart but not necessarily book smart. When the report comes through he makes note of her predictions in her form teacher's comments - frequent absences, disruptive behaviour, everything he expected really, but there's a hopeful tone at the end, a note on how much of an effort she's been making lately. Chas'll be made up, even if it was all a con.

What he is admittedly somewhat surprised to find is the little 'B' printed under her history score and he can't help but smile in pride when he sees it.

It'll go on the fridge later, once he's shown his mum, and Liv will spend all evening complaining about it. She'll try to tear it down when his back is turned and he'll laugh about it because her attempts are only halfhearted.

And for the first time in a long time she'll feel like she really belongs somewhere.

**Author's Note:**

> now that you've read it i can admit i have literally no clue whether this is plausible - does robert know anything about history? does liv even take history? well she does now (she needed to pick a final subject and this is what she ended up with shh i'm a tired history student just let me make it up as i go along)
> 
> so, uh, anyway this is my first attempt at writing in this fandom and i'd appreciate any feedback tbh. unless it's on the yorkshire dialogue because honestly i've given up, i've been to yorkshire twice in my entire life and have yet to understand most of what they say i'm at peace with it it's all good
> 
> you can find me elsewhere at @livlivesy on tumblr


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